Reply to: What tools do you carry in your car?

[vetran]

senior management.

[EternalOptimist]

nothing.
I used to carry a lot of stuff, but since I got older, and started churning my car every two years, it hasn't been neccessary.

Interesting the number of people who talk about 'changing a tyre'. I am guessing they mean changing a wheel


I used to carry three spoons to change a tyre on my bike when I was 12

[bless 'em all]

9mm in the glove-box.

[xoggoth]

Gordon Bennet, 6 pages?

Anyway, looked around and under bonnet and found that the only things I might ever remove that were fitted by anything I had, excluding big stuff like suspension whihc I wouldn't touch, were all fitted by one spanner and a posidrive screwdriver so just kept those and wheel change things plus some general purpose stuff like mole grip, pliers, and torch.

Most nuts need those star shaped screwdriver things which I didn't have anyway. The temporary fan belt was especially useful as the engine doesn't have one, as was the large can of WD42 to deal with wet spark plugs on a diesel.

[milanbenes]

got a lot of kit in the car

Milan.

[BolshieBastard]

Can't have a spare tyre due to differing wheel sizes front and back and don't have run flats either, just an electric pump and some foamy stuff in the boot. Have the mobile phone and an ADAC card but I do have the SOS button on the roof of the car (next to the sunroof button) which will call out the people for me if I ever need to use it but being as its a hand built German car, I probably never will (I also for some strange reason have an Internet connection so I could e-mail someone as well!)

Just like the Z4 then (although I specified internet as one of the options)!

[darmstadt]

Can't have a spare tyre due to differing wheel sizes front and back and don't have run flats either, just an electric pump and some foamy stuff in the boot. Have the mobile phone and an ADAC card but I do have the SOS button on the roof of the car (next to the sunroof button) which will call out the people for me if I ever need to use it but being as its a hand built German car, I probably never will (I also for some strange reason have an Internet connection so I could e-mail someone as well!)

[AtW]

A shovel.

[roseyw]

A baseball bat, hammer, crowbar etc.

Na I really just have the nuts and bolts for my spare wheel, foot pump, and a jump start kit.

[BolshieBastard]

In Switzerland you are supposed to steam clean your engine compartment in preparation for the equivalent of an MOT test.

Dunno if they cover anything up first. I've let the garage take care of it.

Electrics in cars are so much robust than they were a few years ago. If people have seen an engine bay being powerwashed, they wouldnt bother with WD40 ever again.

If the car is older than 10 years, that may be a different question though.

[BA to the Stars]

A hammer


Signed
Peter Sutcliffe
Broadmoor

[BolshieBastard]

One winter, I, out of the kindness of my heart, cleared my wife's car of Ice by starting it and letting it get all hot. When finished, I turned the engine off, but left the electric credit card type key in the car. In one hour, it drained the battery flat and this is, apparently, standard fair for those types of keys, they just keep pulling power from the battery for soem reason not clearly explained to me.

Never had that problem with my Z4 or E93 before it when I've left that type of key engaged during a 7 hour car detail. New cars should go into sleep mode after about 30 minutes even with that type of 'ignition' key left engaged.

Even so, the start button and auto selector LED's remain lit 24 \ 7 and alarm is always 'on'. I didnt use the E93 for 31 days and it still started ok

[OwlHoot]

What do you lot do?

The other day I noticed a book in my boot, "A History of Bolton". Been there a couple of years, and must have fallen out of a box sometime. Looks too boring to take indoors, so left there for possible emergency reading material during a multi-hour motorway traffic jam.

I don't think it would help with changing a tyre though, and I'm not aware of any other tools in the car. Why would you need them when you can just call the AA or equivalent?

[Sysman]

Modern car electrics you can use a powerwash on them (see some car detailing vids of people who keep under the bonnet spotless) and provided you protect the alternator, ECU and ABS unit, the car will start first time on the key.

In Switzerland you are supposed to steam clean your engine compartment in preparation for the equivalent of an MOT test.

Dunno if they cover anything up first. I've let the garage take care of it.

[Scoobos]

Wrench and a screwdriver , but the wrench is really there for self defense (don't ask).